


Two Yeols, One Jong

by cenji



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band), Infinite (Band)
Genre: Crack, Gen, I tagged everyone who speaks pm, POV Multiple, The Dae/Jiae is for real but barely present, The DaeYoon is a troll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 08:05:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13654893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cenji/pseuds/cenji
Summary: Why was Sungjong late to practice?





	Two Yeols, One Jong

**Author's Note:**

> This was an extra scene to Woohyun Does Woollim that sprawled into a big old mess all of its own... Mess being the operative word, tbh. I don't think you need to read that one first for this to make sense. Just know that, firstly, their ages are squished so they're all in high school and Y is only one year younger than Dae and, secondly, Infinite6 are cheerleaders with a big show to prepare for. 
> 
> There are three parts to this which I'm hereby dubbing 'Jjong stalks the straights', 'Daeyeol's life is pain' and 'Sungyeol: a confused man'.

Sungjong is suspicious. He hates being suspicious. He likes _knowing_ the gossip, not having it dangled tantalisingly just beyond his grasp. The girls know this, so why they're being so decidedly unhelpful is beyond him. The triggers for his suspicions are fourfold. 

The first incident occurred a couple of months ago. Sungjong had been at the mall with Dasom and Areum, when Dasom spied her classmate, Yoo Jiae, sitting alone on a bench outside an ice-cream parlour. They're friends, if not that close, so naturally they'd interrupted looking for a new jacket for Areum and gone to ask Jiae what she was up to. In fact, her style was similar to Areum's in a way, so maybe they could get her to join them. Well, the expression on Jiae's face when met with he and Dasom waving a friendly hello reminded Sungjong very much of when his little brother was about to get caught pilfering Sungjong's stuff. She'd spluttered out something about how she was very busy and had to go meet no one, because who would she be meeting, but she really was just about to leave anyway and have fun guys and bye!

She fled, pink coat in one arm and her purse over the other, flapping against her hip as she went. Now alright, perhaps Areum had come on a bit strong when she'd popped out from behind Sungjong and skipped the greetings in favour of squealing, "Oh my gosh, Sunbae! Your coat is divine. I want it!" But Sungjong still thought Jiae's reaction was too much. 

"She was dressed very nicely to go meet no one," Dasom stated blandly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Sungjong smirked. He replied nothing, not in the mood to humour her. As they made their way back into the shop though, Areum chipped in. 

"Isn't Jiae-sunbae always dressed nicely? I mean, she is, really."

Dasom draped an arm around Areum's shoulders. There were few moments in life when Dasom got to act like a wise sunbae - or a wise anything, for that matter - but by gosh, did she relish them.

"Absolutely, Areummie. But did you notice those rose patterned tights she was wearing? Those were Calvin Klein. Plus that logo on her bag was genuine. She must have had her eye on the sales racks." Areum nodded, still looking puzzled about what that all had to do with anything. Sungjong sighed. Saying things that way was why people so often ended up with a bad impression of Dasom. It wasn't her fault she was blunt though - it's just how she was made. Besides, he liked that in her. Dasom was a friend with very few pretensions. 

"You forgot that pleated skirt," he added, scanning the racks for something he'd spotted earlier, "Wasn't that Gucci? If it wasn't, it was a good knock off. But anyway, Areummie still needs a jacket."

The girls were having a world of difficulty coming to a decision, so Sungjong more or less left them to debate it amongst themselves and amused himself trying on different accessories. That's why they never noticed when, not much later, Lee Daeyeol rushed up, hair a mess, breathing hard. He stood by the bench where Jiae had been sitting, looking all around like a lost sheep and frantically smoothing his hair down (to negligible effect). Eventually, he plopped down on the bench with a huff, his face the picture of panic. Sungjong, frozen mid-sliding a silver ring on to his finger, watched in fascination. Daeyeol pulled out his phone, biting his lip as he drew the passcode. He stared at it in alarm for several seconds before suddenly fleeing. Coincidentally, in the same direction as Jiae had. So that was curious. 

The second incident, didn't occur until a few weeks later. Sungjong had almost forgotten the whole incident at the mall. On a warm Saturday, he was sitting in a nicely air-conditioned cafe, on a study date with Dasom and Jiyeon. Well, books were open on the table, so it probably counted as a study date, even if they kind of neglected to read them. Jiyeon was showing them pictures from a class trip she'd been on to a nature park. Sungjong knew most of her classmates to some degree, so it was fun to hear about everything that went on. They were cackling over a video of Bang Minah losing her shit over someone throwing a plastic snake in front of her, when Sungjong noticed a photo of Jiae and Eunji sharing an umbrella and looking exhausted. Jiae had her satchel over her shoulder, the strap all covered in pins and charms. 

"I almost forgot you and Yoo Jiae are classmates," he commented. 

"Mm. All the pretty girls got together," Jiyeon deadpanned, bursting into giggles two seconds later and hiding her whole face behind her hands. 

"It's not all the pretty girls. It's all the weird girls," Dasom amended, laughing at her friend. Jiyeon lowered her head, burying herself further behind her long brown hair. Taking a deep breath, she snapped her fingers in front of her face as if to magic the giggles away. 

"You know, but really, speaking of Jiae," she began, "She does look prettier lately. All like..." Jiyeon waved her hands around her head with finger movements that Sungjong thought implied Jiae was shiny. He wasn't sure. "That's like, you know what they say." 

Sungjong tilted his head in a question. Jiyeon opened her mouth to explain, glanced between him and Dasom, and snapped it shut. Sungjong could absolutely have sworn he caught Dasom shaking her head out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked, she was simply sipping her latte macchiato serenely. 

"It's an auspicious year. For Yoos, I mean," Jiyeon blabbered, "My grandaunt said so," she added, nodding to herself. Not feeling that now was the time to hear what else Jiyeon's grandaunt had to say on the subject of astrology, Sungjong let it drop. The conversation quickly moved on. It stayed with him, however, the strangeness of that little moment. 

It was still bugging him later that night, when the third incident occurred. If it can even be called an incident. Sungjong still wonders if he was being paranoid. It happened when he was back at home crawling his way through an English reading. Wanting to take a break, he thought he'd look at those pictures of Jiyeon's again. This time, his eye lingered on the strap of Jiae's satchel with all it's colourful bling. One of the pins seemed familiar. He zoomed in to get a better look. It was silver, something like a planet crowned with three stars. There was some writing that became just a smudge of colour in the picture. Sungjong was already feeling stupid for squinting at this one blurry detail for so long, when he finally figured out why the pin looked familiar. It was very similar to the one his school's basketball team all wore. Not that Sungjong was close to anyone on the basketball team. Unless you counted Daeyeol of course... Sungjong tsked. He ought not overthink stuff, he told himself. He made himself put his phone away and turn back to his textbook, all ready to put every Daeyeol and Jiae related suspicion behind him. 

However, then the final incident occurred. To be honest, the final 'incident' deserved the title even less than the pin thing. But Sungjong was too far in now, he couldn't help zeroing in on little details. It started when Daeyeol came into school wearing a black and white striped scarf. It was almost identical to one a certain girl had been wearing when he, Eunji and Kangjoon had run into her at the weekend. Not to mention the bracelet Daeyeol was sporting lately with a cute charm of Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service. Sungjong knew exactly one girl who was going through an obsession with that cat. 'And what of it?' Sungjong told himself. That character's popular and everyone knows Daeyeol originally liked cute things. Most likely there's nothing to it. The same goes for the scarf. Many people own similar items - such are the joys of Capitalism. Therefore yes, Sungjong acknowledges that his last reason is dumb. 

Nevertheless, he can't dismiss it. How can he when the girls _obviously_ know something he doesn't? Every time he's brought up his suspicions with them, they've laughed awkwardly and rapidly changed the subject. He supposes also, that he's not even that close to Jiae and has rarely talked to Daeyeol outside of school and the couple of times the whole cheersquad went to Sungyeol's parent's restaurant to eat. So from that perspective he should just move on. But after the third time he spots a possible couple item on Jiae and Daeyeol's instagrams (... not that he's stalking a straight couple's social media... Sungjong whines, face palming at his phone. Not even he believes his own lies) he concludes that the only thing to do is to confront Daeyeol and clear this up once and for all. 

Sungjong plans for a week. He's no good at this kind of thing. Presumably, Daeyeol won't want to tell him and Sungjong's going to have to wheedle the truth out. How does one wheedle? Sungjong's buggered if he knows. His brother either admits when he's messed up or is so clumsy that he gets caught anyway. The girls tell Sungjong things in their own good time or keep that shit to the grave no matter what. So Sungjong's trepidatious to say the absolute least. He doesn't know what response to expect. 

Far far down his list of possible outcomes, is Daeyeol folding like a deck of cards. 

"Oh my god, don't tell Hyung!" he hisses, hands clasped in front of his chest. His face is contorted into the rictus grin of a dog who's frightened and trying to ingratiate its way out of trouble. To Sungjong, Sungyeol is a good friend and, as a team mate, a kind hyung who is mostly useless but for his splits. Daeyeol's reaction has him taken aback. 

"Why though? Wouldn't Sungyeol-hyung be happy? Jiae's nice. She's really pretty too."

"Yeah, she's the prettiest." For a moment, Daeyeol's expression melts into a smile like a strawberry sundae. Then he remembers that Sungjong's there, waiting not-so-patiently, and the guilt-ridden puppy returns. "Look. It's a long story. It's sort of complicated. How long do you have?"

Sungjong considers that. If he left right this moment, he might not be late for training. Given how close the Big Day is, being late would definitely earn him a lecture form Sunggyu. On the other hand, Sunggyu's lectures aren't so difficult to tune out once you have the knack. 

"Minus time," he concludes, "Is there an abridged version?"

Daeyeol perches on a desk. He takes a long, slow breath, shoulders visibly reaction. Sungjong is uneasy about how much Daeyeol appears to be settling in to spin a yarn. 

"Yeah, I guess so. OK. Well, you see, it began in the first year of middle school."

Sungjong smiles the same sort of way Sunggyu does when Myungsoo and Sungyeol are about to push his buttons a little too far or how Dasom does when a boy who thinks she's an airhead is trying to flirt with her. 

"Sorry, but do you know what abridged means, Daeyeollie?" he interrupts. 

"Yes, I do!" Daeyeol huffs, "It won't take long, I promise. Just let me tell it."

Resigned, Sungjong leans against the desk across from Daeyeol and listens. And the boy does explain all, albeit in a rushed and scattered way, leaving Sungjong to piece together the details. 

When Daeyeol's 13, he gets his first proper girlfriend. They hold hands strolling to the convenience store and share a slushie. She has a ponytail that reaches to her waist, held with a huge pink scrunchie, and brightly coloured clips holding every rebellious strand of hair in place. She smells like a spring breeze and Daeyeol knows he looks at her like she's a butterfly because his friends have been making fun of him for it since the first day of term. 

They hold hands heading back from the convenience store too. Daeyeol's going to walk her home because that's totally what a gentleman would do. (He's not planning to kiss her though, because that's still a bit too terrifying). As they're walking down one street, where tiny white flowers have bloomed on the dusty shrubs and insects cartwheel in the air, Daeyeol hears the chimes of the big stationary shop they're passing. Suddenly, his brother tumbles onto the path in front of them. Noticing his little brother's hand linked with some girl's, Sungyeol's mouth goes slack. Wordlessly, he points his new rulers at them. Daeyeol blushes. He's unprepared for this. Nonetheless, it seems to him that the gentlemanly thing to do is to properly introduce Minhee. So that's what he does. Daeyeol regrets the decision almost immediately. 

To put it mildly, Sungyeol freaks out. He wants to know who she is, how long this has been 'going on', where they met... 

("In Civics?" Daeyeol squeaks. 

"Uh-huh," Sungyeol grunts, piercing stare assessing poor Minhee from head to toe. She shuffles uncomfortably, fidgeting with her uniform and half-hiding behind Daeyeol's arm. Daeyeol doesn't see what's so hard to believe about any of this, nor why his brother's already one bright light and a pair of handcuffs away from interrogating him as if he were a double agent for the North). 

Only a text from one of Sungyeol's classmates deters him long enough for Daeyeol to re-link his fingers with Minhee's and whisk her away. When he's home that evening, Sungyeol announces what he saw around the dinner table. There's an inflection to how he says that Daeyeol was 'with a girl' that makes his mum put extra pork strips on his rice and his dad chuckle around a mouthful of beansprouts. It's absolutely hideous and Daeyeol sort of very much wants to die. 

He and Minhee break up eventually. It's not caused by his big brother acting like Daeyeol holding hands with a girl is one step on the path to Daeyeol becoming a crack addict and forcing their parents to sell the restaurant to cover his debts. That sure doesn't help though. 

Somewhat traumatised, Daeyeol doesn't risk dating again for over a year. There's a girl who goes to the park to sketch. She's always there when Daeyeol goes to play basketball with his neighbourhood friends. She wears black miniskirts with ribbons and lace and lets her friends draw on her converse. She likes magical girl anime and her bags and hoodies always have characters on them that Daeyeol mostly doesn't recognise. He's intent on not dwelling too much on how pretty she looks with her long black hair around her shoulders and a pencil behind her ear. But one day, when he's sitting out with a sore knee, she offers him a segment of her tangerine and comments offhandedly that she might sketch him when he's healed enough to play again. Daeyeol's pretty sure he's in love. 

Claiming he's going to Jihoon's to study, he takes her to the aquarium. Jihoon had laughed at him for being cliche, but Daeyeol's fairly certain that everyone loves fish. If not, he can buy her a cute walrus plushie at the end. If she's the sort of girl who says no to a walrus plushie, then he'll have to take that as a sign they were never meant to be. Fortunately, Jueun does enjoy herself. Shes tugging him from one exhibit to the next, then back again when she realises she neglected to take a picture of that one freaky looking deep sea crab. Daeyeol's feeling proud of himself - this is an awesome date. Jihoon can shut up about cliches. 

As he gazes into a floor to ceiling tank, waiting whilst Jueun squeezes around the crowd, trying to get a good photo of the rayfish, Daeyeol spots a face reflected in the glass. This face is very similar to his, except with big staring eyes, hair tending to 'birds-nest' and it sits atop shoulders honed by the ridiculous exercises Dongwoo makes cheersquad do. Daeyeol bites his fist to stifle a yelp. Fluff from his favourite white sweater gets on his tongue. When he cautiously turns around, Sungyeol's melted into the throng of visitors, as if he were never there. 

"Is everything alright?" Jueun asks when she gets back, penciled eyebrows knitted in concern, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Privately, Daeyeol thinks that a non-corporeal vengeful spirit would be a spectacular improvement on what he has to put up with. He tells her sorry and that he's feeling ill, which really isn't a lie. He takes her home on the subway and heads off to demand answers from Jihoon. 

By the end of the day, Sungyeol hasn't breathed a word. Daeyeol guesses that means he's gotten away with it. He even wonders if his big brother might have seen sense. Perhaps he gazed into his own reflection and had a revelation that Lee Daeyeol ought to be allowed to hang out with girls without being assumed to be bringing the family name into disrepute. With these thoughts comforting him, he lies his head on his pillow. There's a faint sound of paper crunching. Reaching underneath, Daeyeol pulls out a pamphlet about safe sex. He uses it to muffle his screams. Just kissing Jueun's cheek after saying goodbye almost gave him a heartattack - what in the world is he expected to do with this? 

Two days later, he calls it off with Jueun. It's all too stressful for him. She's very understanding when he tells her his family don't approve of him dating - although, in truth, Daeyeol suspects his parents would like her plenty were they introduced. She and he are still friends and she still shares her tangerines with him. After a few days, she even hands him a drawing of himself shooting hoops, looking like a character from a basketball manhwa. It's signed with 'to my friend, Daeyeollie', and Daeyeol has to concentrate exceptionally hard not to cry in her face on reading that. 

Having accepted a life of singlehood, Daeyeol throws more energy into school and extracurricular activities than he ever had before. The basketball coach praises him more often and his (dismal) rank creeps up in most of his classes. It seems like Sungyeol has relaxed, let go of his hawk-eyed older brother mode. Sometimes though, if he spots Daeyeol chatting with the noona next door or being 'overly familiar' with the girl at the bakery, sometimes older brother hawk flaps his wings again, coming back to life to crap haughtily on Daeyeol's dreams. 

At this point, Sungjong thinks he's heard enough to understand. 

"Alright alright, I get it," he says, waving a hand dismissively. He stands up to leave, readjusting his satchel on his shoulder, "I can see Sungyeol-hyung being like that. It makes sense you'd want to keep you and Jiae a -"

Daeyeol catches his wrists. He fixes Sungjong with a sharp stare that's so unlike his usual happy-go-lucky classmate, that Sungjong's bewildered into silence. 

"It's not that simple, Sungjongie," he entones gravely, releasing Sungjong's wrists. It's all Sungjong can do to listen dumbly, cheersquad training all but forgotten. 

One day last February, shortly before the beginning of the school year, Daeyeol's hanging around in his room with one of his neighbourhood friends. They went to the same middle-school too, and Sungyoon will be following Daeyeol into the boys school next year. The drizzly spring weather was too chilly and grey to think about venturing outside. They tried gaming for a while, huddling together on Daeyeol's bed, but quit soon when they were both being roundly trounced. Sungyoon's restless energy was too much to keep sitting still anyway. Daeyeol got his phone out, looking for some music, and Sungyoon told him about the dance class he attends. There's a new teacher who's been teaching them tumbling and Sungyoon is pretty darn excited about this new skill. 

"I'm thinking about joining cheersquad next year," he grins, "If they'll have me." 

Daeyeol mulls that over for a moment. When Dongwoo and Sunggyu graduate, presumably his brother will become leader by default. Frankly, Daeyeol doubts Lee Sungyeol could lead his way out of a paper bag. 

"Well, of course," he decides, knocking his friend's shoulder, "Who wouldn't want you? Anyhow, can you show me something? I guess there isn't enough space here. Maybe we can..." But Sungyoon holds up a hand to quieten Daeyeol's concerns. Just a super basic front flip, he promises, trying to sound more knowledgeable than he is. There's enough space for that. He'll land on the bed, so definitely he won't get hurt or anything. Daeyeol's still dubious. However, for him - whose limbs have essentially opted to go off and do their own thing since he started getting growth spurts - a 'super basic front flip' still sounds pretty cool. Besides, Sungyoon's eyes are sparkling like diamonds, so Daeyeol can't reasonably be expected to refuse. 

Unfortunately, he may have over-estimated his younger friend's spatial awareness. Sungyoon gets the flip, but Daeyeol's bed is rather nearer than he'd anticipated. He has to throw his arms out to land safely. Which he does, on top of Daeyeol. Sungyoon opens his eyes, face squashed against Daeyeol's shoulder. Still dazed, he pushes himself on to his elbows. 

"Oh crap. Hyung, I'm sorry. Are you hurt? I shouldn't have tried to show off. I'm really sorry."

Sungyoon's too busy apologising to remember to get off his friend. Daeyeol, blushing from the sheer proximity and how a couple of wild strands of Sungyoon's too long black hair are tickling his cheek, is striving to recollect how to put sentences together. It's to the glory of the Lee men's skill with timing, that this is when Sungyeol and his dad shove the door open to announce that the nice lady across the road baked brownies and boxed half a dozen up just for them. A moment of excruciating silence balloons in the room, one which Daeyeol will remember and cringe over for years to come. Scared of being scolded, Sungyoon scrambles off of his friend. Daeyeol chokes out that they'll be down in a moment. 

"Oh ho ho, that's quite alright, boys," Daeyeol's dad chuckles, "Don't worry. You boys can come out... come down when you're good and ready. I'll make sure Mum leaves some for both of you." He taps his nose like there's some sort of friendly conspiracy underway. Daeyeol's grateful that Sungyoon looks so utterly perplexed - because, for his part, Daeyeol is ready to curl into a ball under his bed and stay there for the next fifty years or so. Sungyeol, he notices, doesn't say anything. At all. It's unnatural. In fact, Sungyeol doesn't even look properly in Daeyeol and Sungyoon's direction. His gaze is off into the middle distance, seemingly staring at that poster above Daeyeol's desk of Red Velvet's Irene in a sparkly rainbow dress. 

The moment the bedroom door closes behind them, Daeyeol springs up, sharp eyes on Irene as if she might hold the answers to the mess that is his life. His ears are pricked. The hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something will happen. Every fibre of his being is anticipating... something. Considering the family he has, there's no way this incident can pass without consequence. But what? He can't imagine. If he can't imagine, then he can't prepare himself for the horribleness of it all. He sighs, shoulders drooping, head bowed low. 

"You, er, you OK, Hyung?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good, Sungyoonie." He flops back on the bed and Sungyoon pats his arm consolingly. 

As it happens, despite Daeyeol's certainty, nothing does happen. Not regarding his over-protective brother, at any rate. Nada. Zilch. Sungyeol never brings up the incident. Nor does he, in subsequent weeks, quiz Daeyeol about what he had to talk to Sungyoon's noona about for so long. He stops implying that the girl in the bakery is a hussy for giving Daeyeol extra mayonnaise on his salad roll. One weekend, Daeyeol goes to the pool with a mixed group of friends, posts about it on instagram, and the only comment he hears about it from Sungyeol is that the hyung who gave he and Sungyoon a lift there looks like he works out. Daeyeol's confused. This isn't the Sungyeol he knows and tolerates. This new attitude of his is a relief, but it's also massively disconcerting. On a slow afternoon, when Daeyeol is sitting at his desk trying to pound chemical elements into his skull, Irene and her sparkly dress draw his eye. As if she were reaching out to him, the pieces finally slot together. 

"Wait now. Hold up," Sungjong frowns, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "Are you telling me that Sungyeollie-hyung thinks you're gay?"

"Exactly!" Daeyeol clasps his hands together with a loud smack, "And it has to stay that way."

"You're nuts." 

Daeyeol deflates a little at that. The fire of determination in his eyes still burns brightly though. It's the only thing keeping Sungjong from turning on his heels and leaving Lee Daeyeol in his dust. He has so many better thing to do right now. (Dongwoo's 'not angry, just disappointed' face flashes through Sungjong's brain and he has to screw his eyes shut to dismiss it. He really does have better things to do). It's hard to believe that, all this time, he's been labouring under the notion that Daeyeol was the normal brother. It turns out he's just differently cuckoo. 

"I'm not," the boy whines, fisting the hem of his blazer, "You don't get it, Sungjongie. I'm free like this. I'll come out later. Like, when Hyung's gone to university. But for now, just, please. Pretty please. You can't tell Hyung. I'm begging you."

Such shameless pleading isn't something Sungjong's little brother has ever been prone to. Sungjong feels out of his depth. This whole situation is making him flustered. His instincts are telling him to quickly agree to everything and run away. At the same time, he's vaguely offended on Myungsoo, Woohyun and Sunggyu's behalf. A straight boy's planning to come out - what a joke. But one look at Daeyeol's watery eyes and the objections die on Sungjong's tongue. 

Meanwhile, in another part of the school, Sungyeol is marching down the corridor at top speed. He rolls his shoulders as he goes. He's had his head bowed whilst receiving a long lecture from his Chemistry teacher and a nasty ache has bloomed between his shoulder blades. To be fair, Sungyeol admits that he somewhat deserved to be lectured. He kind of made Kiseop and Hoonmin's experiment explode. Which was all well and good (as far as Sungyeol was concerned) until Kiseop started crying and didn't stop even after the dismissal bell had rung. The crying made Sungyeol feel a bit bad. 

Having said that, he's going to get another lecture from Sunggyu if he's not sharpish. To be perfectly honest, Sunggyu's lectures, when he goes in, are more severe than any of the teachers'. So Sungyeol feels that the thing to do is to embrace the future rather than waste time turning over past mistakes. He wishes his Chemistry teacher would come over to his way of thinking. 

His steps echo around the quiet corridor. The school's creepy at this time of day, the sunlight rapidly fading from the sky, only a few spectral voices emerging from distant corners. Empty classroom after empty classroom flies past his vision. Then, out of the blue, there's a classroom that's not empty. Sungyeol has to backtrack, belatedly registering who he saw. He hops on tip toes, not wanting to alert them to his presence just yet. When he peeks in the window, there's no mistaking it. That's his little brother and his team mate. They're standing awfully close, all alone as they are. Daeyeol is staring into Sungjong's eyes with an expression Sungyeol can't read. And Sungjong... is he blushing?  
Sungyeol chews his lip, face grim. He's not supposed to interfere. He's been telling himself all this while, that if his brother's like that then it's none of Sungyeol's business and he doesn't want to know and he is _not_ going to interfere, darn it. Sungyeol can acknowledge that he may have been just a smidgen over-bearing previously. Considering how much he'd apparently misunderstood the situation back then, he absolutely ought to just turn around right this instant and keep walking. 

An image of the neighbourhood kid with the rabbity smile floats into his mind. Oh heck, team mate or no, of course he's interfering. What kind of a big brother would he be if he didn't?

Sungyeol swings the door open and, as if he can't sense the strange atmosphere between the two first years, greets, 

"Hey, Dae. Hey, Jjongie. Why are you late too? Come on - we've gotta go or Gyu-hyung'll skin us."

"It's already gonna happen, Hyung," Sungjong mutters. He tosses the hair from his eyes and, slipping around Sungyeol, bolts from the room. Sungyeol glances at his brother, but Daeyeol's wearing that shifty look that Sungyeol no longer thinks he knows how to interpret. 

"Well. See you," he says, mildly impressed by how awkward he managed to make those three words sound. He dashes to catch up with Sungjong, hoping at least training will be straightforward and uncomplicated.


End file.
